Sunset High School (SHS) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

Beaverton, Oregon Beaverton is a city in the Tualatin Valley, located in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oregon, with a small portion bordering Portland. The city is among the main cities that make up the Portland metropolitan area. Its population was ...

, United States. The school currently offers the

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry int ...

. It opened in 1959 and is the second oldest of the six high schools in the

Beaverton School District The Beaverton School District (BSD 48J) is a school district in and around Beaverton, Oregon, United States. It serves students throughout Beaverton, Hillsboro, Aloha, and unincorporated neighborhoods of Portland, OR. The Beaverton Elementary S ...

. Sunset's athletic teams are known as the

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

History

The school opened in January 1959, initially with freshman and sophomore students only, adding juniors in the fall and its first

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

class in September 1960. Senator

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...

spoke at a student-organized mock

Democratic Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

held at Sunset High School on May 17, 1968, less than three weeks before his assassination on June 5.

Location

Sunset High School is located in the predominantly

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

known as Cedar Mill. Although it has always had a

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

street address, it has never actually been within the city of Portland proper. From 1959 to 1999, the school property was unincorporated land in Washington County, with it being in the Cedar Mill

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

as of the 1990 U.S. Census. In 1999 the Sunset High School grounds (including the adjacent swimming pool) were annexed by the city of Beaverton. Nevertheless, as of 2022 the school's mailing address remains a "Portland" address, as is the case for almost all of Cedar Mill.

Demographics

As of 2021–22, 50.5% of students are white, 11.4% Hispanic or Latino, 27.3% Asian, 1.3% African American, 0.4% Native Hawaiian/

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.3% American Indian/Alaska Native, and 8.6% two or more races. The 2021–22 enrollment was 2,003.

Academics

In 1983, Sunset High School was honored in the

Blue Ribbon Schools Program The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States Department of Education award program that recognizes exemplary public and non-public schools on a yearly basis. Using standards of excellence evidenced by student achievement measures, ...

, the highest honor a school can receive in the United States. In 2008, 84% of the school's seniors received a

high school diploma A high school diploma (sometimes referred to as a high school degree) is a diploma awarded upon graduation of high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary s ...

. Of 498 students, 409 graduated, 59 dropped out, five received a modified diploma, and 25 were still in high school in 2009.

State titles

State championships (

Oregon School Activities Association The Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA) is a non-profit, board-governed organization that regulates high school athletics and competitive activities via athletic conferences in the U.S. state of Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. s ...

) won by Sunset High School: *

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

: 1975, 1976 * Basketball (boys): 1975, 1987 *

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

: 1965, 1994, 2025 * Cross country (boys): 1980, 1982, 1984 * Cross country (girls): 1976, 1984, 1988, 1989, 2013, 2015 * Dance/Drill: 2014 * Golf (boys): 1986, 1990, 1993, 1994 *

Speech and Debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...

: 2021, 2025 * Soccer (boys): 1985 (tie) * Soccer (girls): 1990 * Swimming (boys): 1965, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 * Swimming (girls): 1983, 1984, 1985, 1994, 2017, 2018 * Track and field (boys): 1994, 2011 * Track and field (girls): 1977, 1978 * Tennis (boys): 1972, 1977, 1981, 1982 * Tennis (girls): 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1990, 2019

Notable alumni

Brenda Bakke Brenda Jean Bakke (born May 15, 1963) is an American actress, best known for her roles in 1990s films '' Hot Shots! Part Deux'', '' Gunmen'', ''Demon Knight'', '' Under Siege 2: Dark Territory'', and '' L.A. Confidential''. Life and career Bak ...

, actress *

Brady Clark Brady William Clark (born April 18, 1973) is an American former Major League Baseball outfielder. Brady is a class of 1991 graduate of Sunset High School in Beaverton, Oregon, and 1996 graduate of the University of San Diego, where he played co ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player *

Caspar Corbeau Caspar Corbeau (born 3 April 2001) is a Dutch-American swimmer, representing the Netherlands at international competitions. He is a 2024 Olympics bronze medalist in the men's 200 meter breaststroke. Early life Corbeau was born in Santa Cruz, ...

, Dutch-American swimmer *

Tom Drougas Thomas Christopher Drougas Jr. (born December 25, 1949) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) in the 1970s. He played college football for the Oregon Ducks. He playe ...

, professional

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach and former player *

Andrew Gregor Andrew Gregor (born November 22, 1975) is a retired American soccer midfielder who played professionally in Major League Soccer, the USL First Division, the USL Premier Development League and Major Indoor Soccer League. He is now the director ...

, former professional soccer player * Stephanie Kaza, professor emeritus of environment and natural resources * Phil Keisling,

Oregon Secretary of State The secretary of state of Oregon, an elected constitutional officer within the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon, is first in the line of succession to the List of Governors of Oregon, governor. The duties of the offi ...

Patrick Lachman Patrick "Pat" Lachman (born 1970) is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal guitarist and vocalist, best known as the lead vocalist of Damageplan. He has also played guitar for Halford (band), Halford, Killswitch Engage, The Mercy Clinic and ...

, heavy metal guitarist and vocalist *

Susan M. Leeson Susan M. Leeson (born August 16, 1946) is an American attorney and former judge in the state of Oregon. She was the 94th justice of the Oregon Supreme Court. Prior to her appointment to the supreme court, the Utah native served on the Oregon Court ...

, attorney and former judge * Landen Lucas, professional basketball player * Drew Martin, collegiate and professional basketball player *

Patrick O'Hearn Patrick John O'Hearn (born September 6, 1954) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and recording artist. Known primarily as a bass guitarist and keyboardist, O'Hearn came to prominence with Frank Zappa and co-founded the early 1980s ...

, musician, composer * E. Werner Reschke, businessman and politician *

Joe Sacco Joe Sacco (; born October 2, 1960) is a Maltese-American cartoonist and journalist. He is credited as the first artist to practice rigorous, investigative journalism using the comics form, also referred to as comics journalism. His groundbrea ...

, comics artist and journalist *

Katee Sackhoff Katee Sackhoff (born April 8, 1980) is an American actress known for being Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on ''Battlestar Galactica'' (2004–2009), Niko Breckenridge on '' Another Life'' (2019–2021), Victoria "Vic" Moretti on '' Longmire' ...

, actress *

Garrett Sim Garrett Timothy Sim (born July 10, 1990) is an American professional basketball player who last played for Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez for the French Pro A. College career Sim came to the University of Oregon from Sunset High School, where he po ...

, basketball player *

Royal Skousen Royal Jon Skousen (; born August 5, 1945) is an American linguist and retired professor of linguistics and English at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he is editor of the Book of Mormon Critical Text Project. He is "the leading expert on t ...

, professor of linguistics and English * Randall Sullivan, author and journalist * Courtney Taylor, singer-songwriter *

Tommy Thayer Thomas Cunningham Thayer (born November 7, 1960) is an American musician. Thayer was the lead guitarist and vocalist for the hard rock band Kiss from 2002 to 2023. He was also the lead guitarist for the band Black 'n Blue. Early life Thomas ...

, rock guitarist,

KISS A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

Aaron Woods Aaron Woods (born 13 March 1991) is an Australian former rugby league forward who captained Wests Tigers and played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, St. George Illawarra Dragons and Manly Warringah Sea Eagle ...

, professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player

References

External links

* * {{authority control Education in Beaverton, Oregon High schools in Washington County, Oregon International Baccalaureate schools in Oregon Educational institutions established in 1959 Buildings and structures in Beaverton, Oregon Public high schools in Oregon 1959 establishments in Oregon Beaverton School District Cedar Mill, Oregon